PARIS — (BUSINESS WIRE) — March 1, 2010 —
Dassault Systèmes (DS) (Paris:
DSY), a world leader in 3D and Product
Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, announced today that Optimal
Energy, South African car manufacturer, will develop Joule, Africa’s
first battery-powered vehicle, with the DS V6 solutions. Optimal Energy
will rely on Dassault Systèmes CATIA and ENOVIA V6 for product design
and data management. With the objective to transform the face of the
urban transportation landscape with a dynamic, “real world” electric
vehicle, Joule boasts ample room space, a top speed of 135 km/h and a
nominal range of 300km on a single charge.

“There are not many electric cars on the market at the moment, but most
of the concepts that have been seen are quite small cars,” said Anton
Greeff, Chief Mechanical Engineer, Optimal Energy. “Ours is built to be
an urban driving solution that’s comfortable with a distinctive and
attractive design.” Several prototypes of Joule are already on the road,
and the car will be available for sale to the public end of 2012.

Optimal Energy chose to adopt the DS solutions in order to benefit from
the technical capabilities of an OEM, which has built its experience
over many decades, in a short amount of time. “Perfectly targeted toward
the automotive market, the DS solutions have sped up our learning curve
tremendously,” said Greeff.

With many of Optimal Energy’s automotive suppliers and system developers
based in Europe or the Far East, the company chose ENOVIA V6’s
integrated collaboration platform to provide all actors with an access
to a single version of the truth, from initial requirements to
production. “Everything is in the same platform and interconnected. If
someone needs information on the product, there is only one place they
have to go and look,” said Anton Greeff.

Working with partners and suppliers from a distance can drive up costs
and generate delays. To alleviate this problem, Optimal Energy chose
ENOVIA 3DLIVE so that people can collaborate on the same model in real
time over the Internet. “Using 3DLIVE to communicate visually with those
responsible for building the car and not having to travel back and forth
constantly to see the model on a CAD station is very important for us,”
said Jako von Molendorff, Configuration Manager, Optimal Energy.

“As a young company, Optimal Energy needed to make a strong impression
in a market already dominated by car manufacturing veterans. That
Optimal Energy chose V6 to express its fervent commitment to protect the
environment as well as its desire to build a car that is truly an
alternative to most electric vehicles on the market today is something
we are very pleased with,” said Laurent Couillard, vice president PLM
value selling EMEA, Dassault Systèmes.

About Optimal Energy

Optimal Energy (Pty) Ltd is a privately owned South African company
based in Cape Town. Their passion for renewable, clean energy is
manifested in Joule, Optimal Energy’s first product offering, which is
set to transform the face of the urban transportation landscape. Optimal
Energy’s in-house expertise and intellectual property are focused on
design, development, branding and marketing, and currently employs more
than 100 staff, while still expanding rapidly.

As a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
solutions, Dassault Systèmes brings value to more than 115,000 customers
in 80 countries. A pioneer in the 3D software market since 1981,
Dassault Systèmes develops and markets PLM application software and
services that support industrial processes and provide a 3D vision of
the entire lifecycle of products from conception to maintenance to
recycling. The Dassault Systèmes portfolio consists of CATIA for
designing the virtual product - SolidWorks for 3D mechanical design -
DELMIA for virtual production - SIMULIA for virtual testing - ENOVIA for
global collaborative lifecycle management, and 3DVIA for online 3D
lifelike experiences. Dassault Systèmes’ shares are listed on Euronext
Paris (#13065, DSY.PA) and Dassault Systèmes’ ADRs may be traded on the
US Over-The-Counter (OTC) market (DASTY). For more information, visit
http://www.3ds.com.

CATIA, DELMIA, ENOVIA, SIMULIA, SolidWorks and 3D VIA are registered
trademarks of Dassault Systèmes or its subsidiaries in the US and/or
other countries.